Lake Interstate

[Travis89]

Hi guys,
I've been fishing lake interstate a little bit his year for Largemouths with some minimal success (caught a nice 5LB at the start of the C/R season ). Just looking for any pointers on where to find them? All I can seem to find are small probably around 10"-12" most of the time , is that pretty much whats there or are there some decent fish there? Also any info on what else is in there would be welcome also.

Travis

[djkimmel]

I have not fished it, but I know several of the small ponds and borrow pits in the Lansing area have been hammered hard since they opened. They had actually planted smallies in Lake Interstate originally. My neighbors told me about 3 or 4 years ago they went out one day in a canoe and caught 16 keepers. I get the impression they haven't been there in at least 2 years or so because the fishing went down hill.

There's probably still a few nice bass in there but they are probably used to seeing a lot of bait slung at them. Each of those ponds have seen a large culling of keeper size fish, especially panfish, within 2 seasons of being opened to the general public. They are small enough that a serious dent can be put into the populations.

Just be persistent and fish slow with finesse baits most of the time.

[Travis89]

Yeah I've noticed that it gets a lot of traffic, I do use finesse 99% of the time when I go there.

[djkimmel]

That's probably about the best you can do. Remember, even in a little lake like that, structure and cover will make a difference in finding fish.

[HardcoreNinja69]

I have fished it, but just offshore. I haven't had much luck there either. I caught little bass and some panfish. I don't really think fishing here is as good as the rumors. I have been there about 10 times this year and never saw anyone pull in anymore than a small keeper 14"-15".

[djkimmel]

That pond and the one off Canal to the north a little ways have really been pounded by people who kept too many fish too often for waters that small. There may be bass left in the lake that are bigger, but they've been hunted pretty hard. They can't get much more difficult to fool.

That has been demonstrated in a number of studies, but water that small can be hurt. When they first opened, there were a lot of nice and naive fish in them that took a real beating. Especially the pond next to BWL. That pond was known to have huge panfish from the few people that could fish it before it was made public. I remember a bluegill brought in that weighed 2 pounds 2 ounces! That word gets around. Fast.